1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to terminating one or more flat flexible cables and, more particularly, to connectors and apparatus for terminating one or more flat flexible cables along a substantially flat surface, such as a floor, which terminating may take place prior to the laying of carpeting over both the floor and the terminated, flat flexible cable or cables.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Flat flexible cable structures are known. A typical, flat flexible cable includes a number of spaced, substantially parallel-extending conductors which run along the length of a flat, longitudinally extending, dielectric member, and which form, with the dielectric member, an elongated, flexible article.
It is known also to employ flat flexible cables in various telephone wiring systems within buildings. One or more such cables may be extended along a floor surface to an area at which telephone equipment is to be connected, with a suitable floor covering, typically carpeting, thereafter being laid over the cable in order to hide it from view. Descriptions of such flat flexible cable usage, and of certain associated devices such as connectors, housings, etc., may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,934,072 and 4,030,801 to J. W. Balde and E. D. Bunnell, respectively.
In the flat flexible cable terminating system disclosed in J. W. Balde U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,072, flat flexible cables are laid along a floor, under a flat peripheral flange at the bottom of a bracket, which bracket is then attached, e.g., by an adhesive material or by fasteners, to the floor. The flat flexible cables extend up through a central opening within the bracket, and into a central connection zone between two spaced, parallel-extending, raised flanges on the bracket. The two raised flanges are adapted to receive opposite ends of up to five female telephone connectors bridging the space between the raised flanges, each connector serving to terminate a different, associated one of the flat flexible cables along multiple pairs of conductors, e.g., up to twenty-five pairs of conductors, in the associated, flat flexible cable.
The flat flexible cable terminating system of E. D. Bunnell U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,801 employs a flat-bottomed base plate, which is attached to a floor by fasteners. Two parallel-extending sidewalls stretch upwardly from the base plate and include laterally-projecting ears for receiving opposite ends of two connectors. Each of the connectors is associated with a different one of two multiple conductor, flat flexible cables which extend parallel to the sidewalls and toward the laterally-projecting ears from opposite ends of the base plate. The base plate, which is adapted to receive only the two multiple conductor, flat flexible cables, is covered, after the termination of the cables and the laying of a carpet over the cables, by a screw-attached housing.
In both J. W. Balde U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,072 and E. D. Bunnell U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,801, the termination of cables for large numbers of telephone lines is envisioned, requiring the use of large connectors for receiving multiple pairs of conductors, e.g., up to twenty-five pairs of conductors, in each flat flexible cable which is to be terminated. Clearly, it would be desirable to provide relatively simple and inexpensive equipments and techniques for terminating flat flexible cables where only a few pairs of conductors, e.g., only two pairs of conductors, are included in each cable.